By Kevin Siembieda

One game system – every genre – countless worlds – endless adventure

Palladium Open House is coming up fast. Only 5 weeks away. More importantly, the deadline to get the special hotel room rate is TODAY, March 15, so please reserve your hotel room(s) now if you have not done so already.

Robotech® has continued to take up much of our attention as we continue to process the many Robotech® RPG Tactics Reward Exchanges. As previously reported, Palladium is unable to produce the Robotech® RPG Tactics Wave Two rewards and simply does not have the financial resources to offer cash refunds for remaining Robotech® RPG Tactics (RRT) Wave 2 pledges, but we are offering a refund in-kind by exchanging Wave One rewards for remaining Wave Two pledges.

If you are a backer and want to participate in the Rewards Exchange, please get back to us at your earliest convenience, before March 20, 2018. March 20 is the deadline to get us your Reward Exchange information, but we will be shipping through the end of March. More details about the Robotech situation and the exchange program can be found here and here.

The response to the Wave One Reward Exchange Program has been strong and while most items are available in good quantities, they are only available while supplies last, on a first come, first served basis.

Liquidating Robotech® RPG titles and RRT products

Because Palladium’s Robotech® license has expired, we have only a small window of time to liquidate remaining stock of Robotech® RPG books and Robotech® RPG Tactics™ (RRT) products that may remain after the Reward Exchange with our Kickstarter backers.

We feel comfortable enough with our supplies to put most of the Robotech® RPG books up for sale now, as well as reduce the price of the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ main box game to $80, but it will be available for less next week. We anticipate the main box game and most RRT products will be offered at a steep discount by the end of next week once we are confident we can satisfy the many requests coming in for the Kickstarter Reward Exchange Program. HOWEVER, you will have a very short window of time to acquire them at the reduced prices. Everything must go by March 31, 2018.

Please note: All Robotech® items are available only while supplies last. If there is a Robotech® item you really want, you may not want to wait for a sale to acquire it. The following items are already sold out:

Original Robotech® RPG & Sourcebooks PDFs – on sale now – available only until March 31 – DriveThruRPG.com

PDF books of the original Robotech® Role-Playing Game and sourcebooks from the 1980s and 1990s are already on sale on DriveThruRPG.com – till March 31, 2018. After that, they will no longer be available. Likewise, we believe Palladium Books will be required to remove even the FREE Robotech® RPG Tactics™ material from DriveThruRPG as we will no longer hold the license. Please get all the items you desire for your personal library before March 31, 2018. After March 31, 2018 ALL Robotech® and RRT material must be taken down from DriveThru.

First, we want to express our appreciation to the many who have chosen to participate in the RRT Rewards Exchange Program, where you can get Wave One Rewards for your remaining Wave Two reward value. We are pleased to offer you this refund-in-kind, and welcome others to take advantage of it. (See Kickstarter Updates #217 and 218 for details and #220 for answers to some frequently asked questions.)

If you have not gotten a reply from us, you will.

The biggest flood of emails regarding the RRT Exchange offer was in the first few days, so we are still working through the multitude of Kickstarter messages and getting back to you as quick as we can on a first come, first served basis.

We will get to everyone. Here is the process we’ve been going through:

First, we have to read through the emails. (Please send those to kickstarter{at}palladiumbooks.com, or preferably contact us via Kickstarter Message.)

Second, most of you need us to provide you the amount for your remaining Wave Two pledge. That requires us to look up your account and send you an email with the amount. Please watch for that email and respond as soon as possible.

When we get your Reward Exchange Request, we completely pull, pack, and weigh your reward selections, determine the shipping cost, and then send you the shipping cost via Kickstarter message/email. At that point, it is all in your hands. Your request is already boxed and waiting to be shipped to you as soon as Palladium receives your payment for the shipping!

The most expedient and secure way is to use PayPal: paypal{at}palladiumbooks.com

Or call the Palladium office with your credit card information at 734-721-2903. We will charge your card and ship right away! Depending on the time of day, your Reward Exchange may ship that same day or the next.

Note: As you might expect, we are swamped. If you get the automated voice mail, please leave your name, backer number if you have it, your phone number and a brief message. Someone will get back to you. Maybe not right away, but as soon as we can. If you get someone on the phone, please have your information handy.

Does even a small package cost $18-$35 in the USA?

ANSWER: No, of course not. Many packages are much less. And, of course, some are more. That’s why we are packing and weighing each request, and sending each backer a specific amount for his/her individual exchange. Cost depends entirely on the size, weight and destination of the package. The estimated costs presented in Update #218 were provided to give you a rough idea of cost. Note: We pack, weigh and get the exact cost for each package, and try to keep the cost as low as we can. As soon as Palladium receives your payment to cover shipping, your package is shipped.

What does the March 20, 2018 deadline mean?

It means we need to have your RRT Rewards Exchange requests in to Palladium Books by that date – even if we are continuing to pack and ship after that date – so we can satisfy the conditions of our contractual obligations with the Licensor and get you your Reward Exchange.

Once Palladium is confident it can do so while still being able to satisfy those of you who want to participate in the Exchange offer, we will start putting Robotech®/RRT product on sale to everyone and begin liquidating remaining inventory at an accelerated pace.

That’s why we need Kickstarter backers who want to participate in the Rewards Exchange Program to contact us now through March 20, 2018, so we can try to get you everything you might want, before product is gone. Note: Any Robotech® RPG and RRT product that has not been shipped as part of the Reward Exchange Program, or liquidated, MUST BE DESTROYED. This is usually the case with any license agreement. PLEASE get us your Reward Exchange requests AND send us the shipping so we can accommodate your Exchange Requests before the deadline. Thank you.

Because of this tight deadline and our sincere desire to accommodate EVERYONE who contacts Palladium for the Rewards Exchange – please send Palladium the shipping payment after you hear from us so we can send out your package immediately. Thank you.

Reminder, all RRT rewards are only available WHILE SUPPLIES LAST on a first come, first served basis. If you have been contacted with shipping cost before March 14, 2018, YOU were among the first and may have rewards no longer available, please send payment for shipping to get the rewards you want in the Exchange.

For those of you who may want to purchase more rewards or whose reward selection exceeds your Remaining Reward Value, we are allowing backers to pay the difference.

Due to the large number of backers who have responded, we are now OUT of the following rewards:

UEDF Token Pack

Max Sterling’s Valkyrie Convention Exclusive

If you have not received a shipping cost yet for your Reward Exchange request and have either of these rewards on your list, please send an amended list ASAP so that we can pull your most recent reward list and avoid sending you an email later on requesting you to do so, which only delays your Reward Exchange.

(This was originally posted as a Robotech® RPG Tactics (RRT) Kickstarter Update as it most immediately impacts our RRT backers, but it also affects everyone who loves Palladium’s Robotech® games.)

When the Robotech® RPG Tactics (RRT) Kickstarter funded in May 2013, we cheered, hugged and actually danced down the halls at the Palladium office. Not just because of the amount of money raised thanks to your pledges, but because it meant the realization of our dreams for Robotech®. For Palladium Books, it signified bringing Robotech fans – ourselves among them – something new and exciting to the beloved Robotech® universe.

So it is with sadness and tremendous heartbreak that I announce that, despite our best efforts, we are unable to produce the Robotech® RPG Tactics Wave Two rewards. Moreover, after proudly carrying the legacy of Robotech® in the role-playing games medium for 30 years, our license has expired and is not being renewed.

Palladium’s Business Manager, Scott Gibbons, intended to write this post, but I thought it should come from me. I have spent the better part of a week trying to find the words to explain what happened and express to you how sorry we are that it has come to this. In the end, we decided it best to keep it simple and share with you the broad strokes of how things unfolded without getting too deep into the weeds or violating any Non-Disclosure Agreements.

Pre-Kickstarter

When Palladium saw the opportunity to do Robotech® miniatures as game pieces, we knew the fans would love it. Even cooler, we wanted to create a whole new RPG with an emphasis on the miniatures, combat and tactics. Something different and exciting.

So, we decided to contract with another company with a good reputation and experience in all the areas where we lacked direct experience ourselves. We considered a few companies, and decided upon Ninja Division/Soda Pop Miniatures. We liked what they had to say, they were knowledgeable, enthusiastic and confident, had been working with Cool Mini or Not, Games Workshop and other top-flight companies, and had been involved in 8 or 9 successful Kickstarters. Plus, they had a hit game of their own, Super Dungeon Explore, as well as having been involved with the creation of other games. When we inquired about the company, industry people spoke very highly of them and the products they had worked on.

Ninja Division was brought on to do the heavy lifting: Build and run the Kickstarter, select the manufacturer/broker in China, choose the manufacturing process, choose the type of plastic, provide Palladium with the cost estimates, handle logistics and deal with all the ins and outs and many, many nuisances of manufacturing in China. Ninja Division was also to create the game and hire talented sculptors and artists to create the 3D sculpts, cards, design elements, packaging, and essentially create the game and the Kickstarter from the ground up, or as they liked to say in those early days, “handle 90% of everything.”

At Palladium Books, our primary role was using our extensive knowledge of the Robotech® I.P. to ensure the accuracy of the 3D sculpts, artwork, design elements, and overall look and feel of the game. Palladium provided Ninja Division’s sculptors and artists with all kinds of reference materials, artwork, model sheets, screen shots, and copious notes and communications to get it all just right. This was no small task, as there were many game pieces and most required a vast amount of our time and input to capture all the proper details we knew fans expected. We also handled the approval process with Harmony Gold.

Palladium eventually became more directly involved in the creative process in terms of developing the game rules. We brought in a long-time Palladium freelance writer, Robotech® uber-fan and game designer to assist. We approached it as if we were looking at Robotech® with fresh eyes, re-watched all of Robotech®: Macross, and set out to simulate the action, speed and power of the mecha as seen in the TV show. We used some of Ninja Division’s material as a starting point and built on it from there. Then we worked with them to help with the fine-tuning and number crunching. Ninja Division managed and oversaw the widespread play-testing, and the response from our scores of play-testers was overwhelmingly positive.

The Kickstarter was raw excitement. You know, you were part of it.

After the Kickstarter successfully funded, Palladium announced a Fall 2013 release and said that the game was 98% done, because in the minds of all of us here, it was 98% done. The rest was easy ... or so we thought. You take the 3D sculpts, do physical 3D prints, make the molds, run the plastic figures, dice and tokens, print the rule book, cards, and cartons, box it all up, shrinkwrap it, ship it to the USA, and we ship it to you and the stores. Easy, right? Wrong. But, because this is what we thought and because we were so anxious to bring the game to you and the gaming community, we advertised in print and online that the game would be a Fall 2013 release. In retrospect, we probably should have waited until RRT was on the boat heading to America; but we were excited, so we moved ahead.

So you want to be a Megaversal Ambassador

1) What is an MA?

Answer: The MAs (Megaversal Ambassadors) are a growing group of Palladium Game Masters who volunteer to run Palladium role-playing gaming events and/or demos at conventions, stores and other gatherings to introduce NEW PLAYERS to the Palladium Megaverse®. They are also active talking about Palladium products and the enjoyment and merits of role-playing, online and at events, to get new players interested in Palladium’s games and to keep the enthusiasm alive among established gamers.